McLaren appeal prelude to Silverstone stewards' date with world council

   Copyright c 1998 Nando Media
   Copyright c 1998 Reuters

LONDON (Jul 15, 1998 - 16:57 EDT) - The McLaren Formula One team and the
stewards of the British Grand Prix will go to Paris at the end of this
month to face showdown appearances for contrasting reasons, the sport's
officials said on Wednesday.

McLaren will appeal against the rejection of their protest over Michael
Schumacher's victory in the race at Silverstone last Sunday.

Their appeal will be heard by the sport's international court of appeal on
July 27. If they are successful they hope to have the result of the race
overturned -- possibly to the advantage of their own driver, Finnish world
championship leader Mika Hakkinen, who finished second in a broken car.

Two days later, the three stewards of that rain-hit, stormy and
controversial meeting will appear in Paris before an extraordinary meeting
of the world motor sport council -- assuming they accept an invitation from
the ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA) to attend.

The three stewards, ridiculed by critics for their part in a chaotic race
which ended with Schumacher being declared victorious while sitting in his
Ferrari car in the pit lane, will need to attend to attempt to clear their
names.

They have been invited to Paris by the FIA after the ruling body received a
report from an official observer at the race.

The three stewards are Nazir Hoosein, who was involved in the similarly
controversial race in Brazil earlier this year, Roger Peart and Howard
Lapsley.

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